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Cellophane Mr Cellophane Should have been my name Mr Cellophane Cause you can look right through me Walk right by me And never know Im there The Pakistan travelling show is a billboard bursting with shiny headline acts: a chorus line of sexy quicks belting out their best swing numbers, a legspinner with more razzle dazzle than Catherine Zeta-Jones; Misbah-ul-Haq, the noble leading man with a stirring solo; Sarfraz Ahmed grabbing centre stage for a dashing cameo; and, of course, Younis Khan - mesmerising the audience with footwork that would have flabbergasted Bob Fosse himself.Among the noisy and entertaining flamboyance its easy to miss Asad Shafiq: Pakistans Mr Cellophane, quietly accumulating runs in the wings with a purer technique than any of his flashier team-mates. Shafiq plays an unselfish role; coming in at No. 6, he often provides stability when Pakistans batting crumbles and guides the tail with the authority of a batsman who, in many other teams, would be at three or four. If not for the longevity of Misbah and Younis, he almost certainly would fill one of those roles for Pakistan.Shafiq is currently the 13th ranked Test batsman in the world. He is almost certainly the least famous in the top 20, despite playing 43 Tests over a period of nearly six years. He lives with his wife and two young daughters, and looks after his widowed mother, in Karachi. While others at his level have been endlessly profiled, their backstories told and retold, their personal lives treated as public property, he has remained refreshingly enigmatic.Im not that person that I want to really go out and express myself as a celebrity, Shafiq tells ESPNcricinfo. I just want to do things very simply and very quietly.It was on the suburban back streets of Karachi that Shafiq simply and quietly began his cricketing journey. His mother was kept busy looking after ten children while his father worked at a cement factory. Shafiq, the youngest and smallest, would often be found with his friends and neighbours, pretending to be Sachin Tendulkar as he faced a taped-up tennis ball on the street outside his front door. He would bowl a few deliveries, too, the lightweight ball allowing him to bowl faster than his small frame would normally allow.But it was while batting that he made people sit up and take notice. Enough to stand out as a 12-year-old and be invited to play against much older boys at the local cricket ground. Enough to be singled out to join Karachis Jalaluddin academy.I started playing with the big boys in the ground, Shafiq says, and then I found the love of cricket inside me. The love took me to my first trial of hard-ball cricket at the Under-19 regional academy in Karachi. Thats how I found the love for the game and the start of my career.Once cricket became a serious career path, Shafiq looked closer to home for inspiration, settling on the elegant and prolific Mohammad Yousuf as a role model.I watched Mohammad Yousuf when he scored 1000 runs and broke the world record for number of centuries in a calendar year, Shafiq says. The way he was playing, especially in that year, it was amazing and I just cant forget his drives and his cuts. I really liked him after that.Yousuf is now one of Shafiqs batting mentors, a group that also includes Javed Miandad and Rashid Latif. While his technique may be widely praised, Shafiq is on a never-ending perfectionists quest to hone his already considerable skills.Im always thinking about my batting and my front foot and my back foot and I always like to talk about it with Grant Flower, our batting coach, Shafiq says. I discuss with him what I should do to get it better every time. What to do and what not to do. I want to sit with him and talk about my batting, about my stance, about my grip, about my head position. Shafiqs promotion to the national side in 2010 came with a demotion from his usual top-order batting position. He had never batted at No. 6 until his first Test but he has made more of his role there than most; his tally of eight Test centuries is the joint highest by a number six, a record he shares with Garry Sobers.The best of those innings came during his first tour of South Africa, in 2013. On a hard and bouncy Newlands wicket, facing a fearsome pace attack boasting Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel, Shafiq and Younis combined for a 219-run partnership. It wasnt enough to win the match but it did give Shafiq the confidence that he has the skills to survive and score in any conditions, although he has yet to categorically prove that against England in this series.There are certainly fewer opportunities to rack up big scores when primarily batting with the tail. But rather than being frustrated at the limitations it places on his batting, Shafiq relishes the responsibility of shepherding his team-mates in the lower order.That was the team requirement, so whatever the team wants me to do, whatever role they want me to play, I really take it as a responsibility, Shafiq says. I want to do more with my batting at No. 6. It was difficult in the beginning because Id never batted with the tail. Its very difficult, you have to give confidence to the tail, to the bowler who cannot bat like a batsman. You have to give them the belief that they can bat, that they can contribute because these contributions are the most hurtful to the opposition. They think theyve got all the batsmen out and after that, if the partnership builds between me and a tailender, thats the most frustrating thing for the opposition.With Misbah and Younis in the latter phase of their careers, when one - or both - of them eventually retires it will be a natural progression for Shafiq to move up the order. But while he has ambitions to bat higher, he is as patient for a promotion as he is at the crease.His attitude is born of a deep respect for Misbah, which is hardly surprising. Shafiq made his debut in late 2010, the end of an annus horribilis that left Pakistan crickets reputation in tatters. Shafiq was a key member of Generation Restoration.It was a difficult time but I would like to give credit to Misbah for that, he says. He really took on the responsibility and showed the correct way and put his belief in every player. Whatever had gone on had gone. We had to move forward, we had to forget all the things we left behind. We needed to look forward every time and show the world that we were good cricketers who could play in any conditions and beat any team in the world. So thats the belief we carried from there and each and every day it got better and better. After that we rebuilt our reputation. Every player was good after that.When you go on any tour with the star on your chest, then it is your responsibility to take all of the things that belong to your country and thats my belief: I shouldnt do anything that would hurt my people back home, that would reflect anything negative on my country. Thats a personal thing.Shafiqs approach to batting is generally a conservative one; to be patient in spending time at the crease, to leave confidently and defend neatly while summing up the conditions. He was impressive in Pakistans win at Lords, with diligent scores of 73 and 49, but his dismissals at Old Trafford were frustrating: tempted into a loose drive to the man at backward point in the first innings he was then the last recognised batsman to fall as Pakistan tried to dig in defensively second time around, missing a straight delivery from James Anderson to be given out lbw on review.Perhaps one answer for Shafiq and his team-mates can be found in push-ups; not the ones performed in celebration on the Lords outfield but in the 300-400 they ground out every day of their boot camp in Abbottabad. Such resilience and stamina were missing from their batting in Manchester.With the series levelled after a bruising defeat, Pakistan must now regroup and rebuild before Edgbaston. For a team whose top order is proving brittle, a record-breaking century from their No. 6 - a command performance from Mr Cellophane - would be most timely. China Shoes Wholesale . After taking two big hits this week -- losing at home and dropping back-to-back games for the first time all season -- Indiana struck back by playing its most complete game of the year. Fake China Shoes . You can watch the game live on TSN at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. The Flyers had won seven of eight before dropping their last two outings on consecutive days over the weekend. Philadelphia was handed a 6-3 loss by the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon before dropping a 4-1 decision to the Rangers the following night in New York City. https://www.chinashoes.us/ . The Celtics closed out their first preseason under Stevens on Wednesday night with a 101-97 victory over the Brooklyn Nets, who rested a lot of their lineup including former Celtics Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. Yeezy From China . "I dont know that were close," said general manager Alex Anthopoulos. "I just think, right now, the acquisition cost just doesnt work for us right now. I dont know if I can quantify how far off or things like that that they might be but I would say we continue to have dialogue. China Shoes .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. The Indians would not be where they are without the extraordinary work of Andrew Miller, the MVP of the American League Championship Series. Andrew Miller would not have been the MVP of the ALCS without the unconventional managing of Terry Francona. But theres a third leg of this stool, the back leg, small and obscured by perspective but just as necessary to keeping the thing standing: Terry Francona would probably not be managing unconventionally if it werent for Cody Allen.Its not often an outstanding closer goes underappreciated in the postseason. Mariano Rivera, to give the obvious example, might well go down as the greatest postseason hero ever. But even slightly lesser relievers like Jeurys Familia and Wade Davis and Koji Uehara and Sergio Romo and Kenley Jansen and Brian Wilson have all, for a few weeks in recent postseasons, been temporarily elevated to gods by the stakes and the tension of October. Allen has been as good this month as any of them were, which is valuable enough on its own. But in this case, it has been even more important because it has made the Andrew Miller experiment possible.I have some experience in this. In the summer of 2015, as part of a book project with Ben Lindbergh, I ran the baseball operations of an independent minor league team called the Sonoma Stompers. This included pushing our managers (we replaced one midseason) toward certain in-game tactics. Nothing consumed our time and our powers of persuasion so much as trying to convince them that our best reliever should come in whenever we most needed our best reliever -- as Andrew Miller has been used this month -- instead of in the ninth inning by default. We ran into two obstacles, each specific to the manager in question, and each significant to understanding the role Cody Allen plays in Cleveland right now.Our first manager, the old-school one, simply would not bring in our closer -- an outstanding sinkerballer named Sean Conroy -- if he wasnt sure that Conroy would be available for the final out. He saw the 27th out as infinitely more important than the 26 before it, and considerably more difficult to attain than the 26 before it. After one brutal loss, we tried again to convince our manager that Conroy should have been brought in for the biggest moment of the game -- with runners on and our opponents best hitter batting in the seventh. But then I dont have a closer, he said. I need to have a closer. If I dont have a closer, I cant count on anybody else to get those last outs.Our second manager, more open-minded to our numbers-driven recommendations, was convinced by the leverage-based argument for bringing Conroy in earlier. Eventually, he was calling for Conroy as early as the fifth inning, just like Francona has used Miller. But, like his predecessor, this manager also didnt trust anybody else to get the final out, so he would leave Conroy in the game all the way to the end, pretty much no matter what. This was thrilling to watch, but it introduced some new problems: Conroy was throwing 50, 60, 70 pitches in relief outings. That probably dimmed his effectiveness by the time the eighth and ninth innings came around, and it made him unavailable for a couple days afterward. The latter concern had its own ripples: We were sometimes gun-shy about bringing him in, knowing it would leave the back of our bullpen gutted for the next games.For each manager, the obstacle to using Conroy the right way was the lack of another Conroy behind him. No matter how big the game situation, the manager cant stop worrying about the bigger situation that might come.At the risk of burying Allen further under Millers legend: Cody Allen is Terry Franconas second Andrew Miller. Hes thrown fewer innings than Miller this postseason, but theyve been almost every bit as good: Miller has a 47 percent strikeout rate, six Ks per walk, a 17 percent swinging-strike rate, and no runs allowed; Allen has a 43 percent strikeout rate, five Ks per walk, a 17 percent swinging-strike rate, and no runs allowed. Like Miller, hes death to both lefties and righties -- indeed, like Miller, hes got a slight reverse split -- allowing him to cut through large swaths of a lineup uninterrupted. Like Miller, hes capable of memorable acts of endurance, having entered in the eighth for his first two saves of this postseason, having twice thrown 40 pitches in an outiing.ddddddddddddAllen is not, to be sure, on quite the same level as Miller -- or Wade Davis, or Aroldis Chapman or Zach Britton -- but hes comfortably in the second tier of major-league closers, with a better ERA+ over the past three seasons than Kenley Jansen, Craig Kimbrel, Roberto Osuna or Ken Giles. Hes converted 89 percent of his saves since taking over as Clevelands closer in 2014 -- the difference between him and Chapman is about one blown save in 50 tries. He is, in other words, a closer who not only gives a manager confidence going into the ninth inning, but cover in the post-game interviews if something goes wrong. Terry Francona neednt worry about being second-guessed for using Cody Allen in the ninth inning.Theres no rule that a manager has to romanticize the 27th out, and even without Allen, Francona might still have used Miller the way he has. But Franconas history suggests he wouldnt have. In two postseasons before this year, he has had exceptional closers. His usage of those closers seems to presage the way he has used his bullpen this fall -- but also strongly suggests that Francona wouldnt have used Miller this way without a closer as good as Allen pitching behind him.In 2004, Francona had Keith Foulke, and used him extremely aggressively in October. Foulke entered one save situation in the seventh, which very few managers have been willing to ask of their closers even in October. He pitched even in games the Red Sox were trailing, and in 11 of 14 games Boston played. In six of those games he went four outs or more, with single-game pitch counts of 36, 37 and 50.In 2007, he had Jonathan Papelbon, and used him extremely aggressively in October. In six of Papelbons seven appearances, he was asked to get four or more outs. From 2007 to 2009, Papelbon made 16 postseason appearances, and 12 of them were either four or more outs or began in the eighth inning (or earlier).So we have two data points for Francona using his relievers in unconventional ways, but notably not in the way he has used Miller. In no instance did he put either reliever into a situation where the pitcher was likely to be relieved. (There were games Foulke or Papelbon were removed from, but only because the game was tied or the situation changed.) They were used in the most aggressive way that would still have them on the mound for the 27th out.Maybe Francona got religion since then, but a) he was already way ahead of his peers in pushing his closers to their limits, and he still drew the line at bringing in either pitcher for the sixth and b) he has never used Allen that way since he took over in Cleveland.In addition to making it safe for Francona to use Miller in the sixth and seventh innings, Allens excellence has made it safe for Francona to pull Miller in the eighth and ninth. Consider the first game of the ALCS against Toronto: Miller entered in the top of the seventh inning and struck out two batters to end the inning. In the eighth, after a leadoff single, he struck out the next three batters. The Indians led by two runs going into the ninth, and Francona would certainly have been happy to leave Miller out there to finish the game, as our second-half manager did with Sean Conroy. But Miller had already thrown 31 pitches, and another inning might have left him too tired to pitch the next day. So Francona brought in Allen, who earned the save. Both pitchers were then available for Game 2, and both pitched brilliantly in a 2-1 victory.If there were no Andrew Miller, Allen might be the talk of this postseason. In saving Game 1 of the ALDS he got 11 swinging strikes, which is almost exactly what Corey Kluber has averaged in his starts this postseason. He threw 80 pitches in a three-game sweep of Boston. He pitched in four of five ALCS games, including one outing in which he basically was Miller -- coming into the seventh inning with the tying run up, chewing through the heart of the Blue Jays order for five outs, and finally handing the ball to Miller in the ninth. And he struck out the side in Game 1 of the World Series. But Millers brilliance has ensured that Allens brilliance has gone overlooked. The irony is that Allens brilliance had ensured that Millers brilliance has been possible. ' ' '